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Legendary Pokemon Discussion

I feel legendaries should not be just a fluffy side-story, but rather actually have a profound influence on the region and the story. They should be awe-inspiring, not "oh, look, a dragon legendary, better catch it for my collection".

I hope we see no more than 10, and even that is pushing it. There really isn't room for too many to all fit into the story. I'd be very happy with 5-8 good ones. Xerneas/Yveltal look like the right idea, and MewNew seems to have a good story (even if I don't like that they did what they did). With or without a third to go with Xerneas/Yveltal, and then add a really solid duo or trio, and I think that's enough.

P.S. I really hope Xerneas/Yveltal don't have form changes. They really look great as they are, and I think you can have their story without alternate forms.
 
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I miss the creepy, almost urban-legend like mystery that used to be attached to legendaries. Gen 1's handling of Mewtwo (and to a lesser extent Mew, because wifi didn't exist back then) was absolutely genius.

There were pieces of backstory jigsaw for you to put together in the Cinnabar mansion which let you know some seriously ominous shit had gone down...and then later on, after defeating the elite four and thinking you're the best, you're lost in this dark, mysterious cave and think 'what's that thing?' and before you can blink you're getting your butt kicked by an angry reclusive abomination.

Now that's a legendary encounter. Scary, atmospheric, and completely your fault for wandering into the cave and waking it up. Also post story so you're not focusing on it instead of the actual game. I'd take that any day over being repeatedly told all about a legendary (gee thanks for killing the mystery) and then strong-armed into befriending it to further the plot. Black and White were the worst perpetrators of this; Reshiram and Zekrom were shoved in my face so constantly that only Kyurem held the slightest bit of interest for me by the end. Angry, freaky ice chicken dude hanging out in a cave, you say? Huzzah!

I was so disappointed when BW2 suddenly shone the spotlight on Kyurem by giving it Formes :( I'd love if XY had at least 1 legendary where we're a) allowed to actually think for ourselves regarding its backstory and b) actually have a choice about whether to go and get it or not
 
@LadySasaki, I really agree on that one. I loved how legendaries were handled in Kanto, Johto (specifically the original GSC), and Hoenn.

Legendaries were truly interesting because they weren't mentioned by at least one NPC per city like they were in Unova and somewhat in Sinnoh. You just happened to come across them on your own while in a cave or had to go find them (like the Regis, which was very cool, and Eon Duo).

It seems like every single legendary in Unova has some sort of NPC to talk about it and it just took away some of it's charm. This is made worse by there being so many legends and formes in Unova, in my opinion. Even Sinnoh didn't bother me in that aspect.

I'm hoping that legendaries in X and Y won't suffer from the same. I'd be fine with it for Xerneas and Yveltal since they are the mascots, but I want a couple that you just sort of come across on your own that aren't referenced too much by NPCs.
 
Well, each region has the first trio in Regional Dex order (580 BST, fewer restrictions in competitive tourneys), the version mascots (starting with Johto), and a cutesy Mew-like event legend. Every other legend is just gravy, and they've really heaped on a lot of gravy these past two Gens (especially Sinnoh if you count Phione).
 
I miss the creepy, almost urban-legend like mystery that used to be attached to legendaries. Gen 1's handling of Mewtwo (and to a lesser extent Mew, because wifi didn't exist back then) was absolutely genius.

There were pieces of backstory jigsaw for you to put together in the Cinnabar mansion which let you know some seriously ominous shit had gone down...and then later on, after defeating the elite four and thinking you're the best, you're lost in this dark, mysterious cave and think 'what's that thing?' and before you can blink you're getting your butt kicked by an angry reclusive abomination.

Now that's a legendary encounter. Scary, atmospheric, and completely your fault for wandering into the cave and waking it up. Also post story so you're not focusing on it instead of the actual game. I'd take that any day over being repeatedly told all about a legendary (gee thanks for killing the mystery) and then strong-armed into befriending it to further the plot. Black and White were the worst perpetrators of this; Reshiram and Zekrom were shoved in my face so constantly that only Kyurem held the slightest bit of interest for me by the end. Angry, freaky ice chicken dude hanging out in a cave, you say? Huzzah!

I was so disappointed when BW2 suddenly shone the spotlight on Kyurem by giving it Formes :( I'd love if XY had at least 1 legendary where we're a) allowed to actually think for ourselves regarding its backstory and b) actually have a choice about whether to go and get it or not

I agree here. I wish for XY to go back to the mysterious feel of encountering legendaries and finding them yourself in eerie/dark locations (preferably with creepy music), cause having people shove everything up your face all the time really takes away all of that. NPCs, spoiling everything, can't they just stick to saying useless things like "I want to be a Pokemon Trainer like you!!". Yeah, you do that.

You know, I think the Abyssal Ruins could've been a good spot for a legendary to encounter. I mean, imagine.. a dark underwater cave where you're only allowed to move a certain amount of steps each time you enter (and holding your breath at the same time), listening to mysterious music while you encounter texts written in an unknown language. As one gets deeper and deeper within the cave one will keep on wondering about the texts, and then, when one arrives in the final room and, at the same time as one is about to lose consciousness, reads the final text (which would say something creepy).. BAM legendary encounter of doom appears from nowhere.

Ah, I'd love that.
 
I miss the creepy, almost urban-legend like mystery that used to be attached to legendaries. Gen 1's handling of Mewtwo (and to a lesser extent Mew, because wifi didn't exist back then) was absolutely genius.

There were pieces of backstory jigsaw for you to put together in the Cinnabar mansion which let you know some seriously ominous shit had gone down...and then later on, after defeating the elite four and thinking you're the best, you're lost in this dark, mysterious cave and think 'what's that thing?' and before you can blink you're getting your butt kicked by an angry reclusive abomination.

Now that's a legendary encounter. Scary, atmospheric, and completely your fault for wandering into the cave and waking it up. Also post story so you're not focusing on it instead of the actual game. I'd take that any day over being repeatedly told all about a legendary (gee thanks for killing the mystery) and then strong-armed into befriending it to further the plot. Black and White were the worst perpetrators of this; Reshiram and Zekrom were shoved in my face so constantly that only Kyurem held the slightest bit of interest for me by the end. Angry, freaky ice chicken dude hanging out in a cave, you say? Huzzah!

I was so disappointed when BW2 suddenly shone the spotlight on Kyurem by giving it Formes :( I'd love if XY had at least 1 legendary where we're a) allowed to actually think for ourselves regarding its backstory and b) actually have a choice about whether to go and get it or not

I can see your point there, but I wouldn't completely blame BW for this since it seems to have been a long time coming ever since Ruby and Sapphire. In those games, Team Aqua and Magma kept their legendaries at the forefront since they were all about awakening them, Diamond and Pearl Dialga and Palkia were even more in the spotlight as they drew the attention of the team and a few more notable NPCs, Platinum stepped it up with them getting a bit more attention for their backstory and Giratina getting in on the spotlight. With each game it's becoming more apparent that they wanted the teams and the title legendaries to be more in the forefront and that finally climaxed in Black and White. Granted, we do have some holes and mystery in the respective titular legendaries backstories (such as the OD for the Tao trio) but at this point we're getting legendaries more attention in the main story and for those who like the mysterious aspect that is a let down.

I don't think it will change for the mascots since that seems to be a popularly held trend now but I would like to have that for the lesser known legendaries, something a bit more mysterious would be nice in that regard since we haven't really had that since Hoenn (though the Regis sort of lost that mystery with Regigigas introduction).
 
Oh, the Regi hunts were fun. First you have these three very specific rock formations scattered about Hoenn that nobody seems to know anything about. Then you find an unknown underwater spot in the rapid ocean currents near Pacifidlog with a panel written in (yes, really) Braille. If you solve that you wind up in a cavern with walls filled with Braille symbols (the whole alphabet for your reference), and a lot of ancient text giving vague references to legendary Pokemon. On top of that, you have to get two very specific Pokemon and place them in a very specific order in your party to open those original three rock formations, at which point you're given clues (still in Braille) to one puzzle apiece, and THEN you finally get to encounter the legendary golems.

I don't particularly care that much for the golems' designs themselves, but the quest to get them . . . was awesome.
 
Something I only really just noticed recently was how many legendaries have Pressure as an ability, which has been a huge pain for trying to use sleep inducing moves, as they exhaust pretty quickly when you're throwing dozens of balls. They've gotten a lot better at that lately, with only Kyurem having it last gen. I'm really hoping they keep that up and give the legends unique abilities. It's an annoying ability for catching the legendaries, and it isn't too helpful with anything if you actually use then once you catch them. It seems like with DW abilities they've kinda gone back on what was a bad decision of just giving any legendary pressure as an ability. Hopefully we can see it being phased out just as much this gen.
 
Something I only really just noticed recently was how many legendaries have Pressure as an ability, which has been a huge pain for trying to use sleep inducing moves, as they exhaust pretty quickly when you're throwing dozens of balls. They've gotten a lot better at that lately, with only Kyurem having it last gen. I'm really hoping they keep that up and give the legends unique abilities. It's an annoying ability for catching the legendaries, and it isn't too helpful with anything if you actually use then once you catch them. It seems like with DW abilities they've kinda gone back on what was a bad decision of just giving any legendary pressure as an ability. Hopefully we can see it being phased out just as much this gen.

I agree with this, I like legendaries with unique abilities (the weather trio was great for that). However, if they're gonna be unique, please ACTUALLY make them unique. Zekrom and Reshiram had the exact same ability just with a different name. And even then, it was just a legendary-status Mold Breaker.

Anyway, agreed about Pressure. Too many things have pressure. That like their "oh, it's a legendary and you can't think of a cool ability? Here, give it pressure."
 
I want them to have many legendarys but no event things. Event pokemon could be Shiny legendaries but every legendary should be captured in the game. Every toad does not have wifi.
 
I want them to have many legendarys but no event things. Event pokemon could be Shiny legendaries but every legendary should be captured in the game. Every toad does not have wifi.
If they were to do away with the traditional event giveaways, the only way they would do it would be replacing it with DLC, which is honestly a far better option. They won't get rid of legendaries that they reveal years after the games initial release. With DLC though, they can make those reveals actually of pokemon we haven't seen before.
 
I want them to have many legendarys but no event things. Event pokemon could be Shiny legendaries but every legendary should be captured in the game. Every toad does not have wifi.

Gen V definitely had some pattern-breakers, but I don't see them getting rid of downloadable "gift" legendaries. And even if you don't have wi-fi, it's not hard to find a place that does offer it. Even when I didn't have wi-fi, I didn't have any problem downloading Pokemon using a local bakery's wireless while waiting for my bus.

Since we're bound to have at least five legendaries who aren't the version exclusives, I do hope that one or two of them is of the "mysterious" quality. I don't mind the version ones being talked about profusely, but it is fun to have a legendary who isn't widely known about; like the Regis.
 
I don't mind more legendaries, as long as they are given a decent backstory. It's always fun to read about the various mythical backgrounds.

Though I would like if they don't shine the spotlight on every single legendaries that are going to be available. I would like if they add a certain mystery to some of the legendaries like what they did in the previous generation, like completely not mentioning that the legendary exist except for some vague clues. It could serve as a good side quest and post game material.
 
So I just realized we saw a video not too long back of MegaMewtwo with the DNA symbol that's been cropping up all over the place on a screen in the background. I feel like that footage of Mewtwo would be weird anywhere other than somewhere in the game story related. From that I'm gonna run with the assumption Mewtwo has some sort of function in the actual plot. With them taking in past legendaries, with the potential to use other past legendaries in mega forms, in the game, do you think that could mean we'll be seeing fewer new legendaries introduced in this game, because that is something I could totally get behind. We all know we've been getting way too many in recent generations, so hopefully instead they'll be able to incorporate already existing legendaries into the mythos of Kalos, while only introducing a handful of new legendaries.
 
I'm hoping for a Water/Flying Mega Lugia, personally... Kinda feel that type fits it better.
 
I hope that there is a lot more mystery with the legendaries this generation. I remember playing Ruby and stumbling across the sky pillar, having no idea what was at the top of it. Or wandering around the bottom of the sea, only to rise up into a strange cave with strange writing. I feel like a bit of intrigue and wonder has been absent from the legendaries, the last one that really caught me in this way was Giratina. Exploring one day only to discover a hidden area not there before, and after wandering about aimlessly stumble upon an awesome pokemon. Gen 5 didnt really have that i think, maybe with kyurem a little bit but, the mascot pokemon and the trio of, deer(?), didn't really have that in my opinion. So I hope x and y bring a bit of this back, having legendaries that are hard to find and have mystery about them, maybe even vague clues to be able to find them, or even a puzzle to unlock the area in which they reside. Maybe a bit more backstory as well. Anyway, my two cents.
 
Do you guys think that so far the Legendaries of X/Y are gonna be better than the legendaries in the other games? In terms of power and importance to the world?

I think they do look impressive overall but the legendary Power ranking would still look like that: (counting only the core legendaries e.g. Dialga, Kyogre, Lugia and other)

Arceus > Dialga/Palkia/Giratina > Rayquaza/Groudon/Kyogre > Xerneas/Yveltal > Zekrom/Reshiram > Ho Oh/Lugia > Moltres/Zapdos/Articuno
 
I'm hoping for a Water/Flying Mega Lugia, personally... Kinda feel that type fits it better.

Hmm... I'd have to agree that is a much better option to it's current type. It gains an annoying 4x weakness to Electric, but drops the Ice, Dark, and Ghost weakness, and gains more resistances overall. Game Freak probably didn't make it that typing to begin with because it may have made it unbalanced against Ho-oh, at least thats what I've always figured. (Even considering Kyogre > Groudon)

Personally, I think Dragon/Water is the best way to go, due to Lugia being (vaguely) based on a Chinese/Japanese sea dragon to parallel Ho-oh being a Chinese phoenix. (there are hints to it being a dragon as well, like it's multiscale ability) However, I'm honestly not really for legendaries getting "mega-evos" unless its seriously needed. Don't want the concept to get worn down like the formes did.

Do you guys think that so far the Legendaries of X/Y are gonna be better than the legendaries in the other games? In terms of power and importance to the world?

I think they do look impressive overall but the legendary Power ranking would still look like that: (counting only the core legendaries e.g. Dialga, Kyogre, Lugia and other)

Arceus > Dialga/Palkia/Giratina > Rayquaza/Groudon/Kyogre > Xerneas/Yveltal > Zekrom/Reshiram > Ho Oh/Lugia > Moltres/Zapdos/Articuno

Switch Xerneas/Yveltal around with the Gen 3 legends and you have it right. The Gen 3 legends control certain natural aspects of the Earth, but so far from their species names alone Gen 6 controls the entire process of life/death itself, which definitely puts then above Hoenn's trio. Xerneas on its own represents life, which is way more than Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza even when you put them together.

I'm also not sure about putting Resh/Zek above Ho-oh. Ho-oh raised the dead, which itself is highly impressive even in this series. Resh/Zek (and Kyurem) are honestly more like super versions of the Kanto birds, and at best more inline with Mewtwo's kind of power. Power enough to physically ruin the world and all that, but not really controlling anything. I'd argue the same for Lugia as well, though "physically" they are probably all on par.

Speaking of themes, since we have life & death/destruction now confirmed, I'm betting on either rebirth or immortality for the 3rd member if there is one. Xerneas on it's own could represent rebirth though, as life & death follow each other in a cycle sort of like the seasons. Life being "reborn" in the spring after winter's "death" for example. In which case, immortality would be a good fit and sort of goes against the natural cycle. The 3rd member is usually the odd one out in some capacity as well.
 
Reshiramand Zekrom are just incarnations of differing values. I would actually put them at the bottom in the grand scheme of things.
 
Yveltal and Xerneas represent Death and Life, respectively, so I would say they might have the same "importance" as the Sinnoh trio.
 
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